Acee: Takeo Spikes on verge of major milestone

A two-hour practice in the heat of an August afternoon had ended 15 minutes prior. Yet Chargers linebackers coach Joe Barry was just making his way off the field.

“He’s wearing me out,” Barry said, smiling and shaking his head.

Behind Barry came one of the several wonders of the NFL.

“You can never work too much,” Takeo Spikes said as a waterfall of perspiration cascaded from his head down his tree trunk neck.

Evidently not. For that, Spikes is on the verge of an accomplishment that is almost absurd.

On Monday night in Oakland, he will do what just seven men have ever done.

Spikes will start his 200th game. At linebacker.

He said he didn’t know about the milestone until I told him a couple weeks ago. More recently, he said, “It hasn’t hit me yet. It’s a great honor. I really don’t know how many guys accomplished that; I know it’s few. It’s a big deal.”

A simple response from a man who simply loves playing football.

But please put this in perspective, even aside from the historic numbers, which indicate on their own that the 35-year-old Spikes is a marvel.

“The guy is a machine,” Barry said. “He’s an absolute machine.”

Chargers running back Ryan Mathews, a player whose position at least puts him in the same orbit as a linebacker in terms of number of times each game that he collides with another large human, said when he was in a car accident recently it felt the next day as if he had played four games.

By that math, Spikes has endured about 50 car accidents over the past 14 seasons. That’s probably a conservative estimation.

And he keeps coming back for more.

Just four times in his 14 seasons has Spikes even missed a game. Only once has he played fewer than 12 games.

And he evidently hasn’t given thought to when it will end.

Just four linebackers in NFL history have played more than 15 seasons.

“People ask me all the time, ‘How long do you want to play?’ “ Spike said. “If I could play this game forever, I would. But that’s not possible. So, you know what, I take it day by day.”

Day by difficult day.

“The numbers speak for themselves -- the years, his age, the games,” Barry said.

But what speaks louder are the reasons Spikes has gotten to this point.

After 14 years in the NFL, Spikes expected Barry to challenge him every day this summer – be it after practice for those 15-minute sessions on hand placement during a blitz or during special teams period for a tutorial on pass coverage.

“It’s just unbelievable how he goes about it,” said Barry, who coached Derrick Brooks in Tampa Bay for seven seasons and easily draws comparisons between the two. “When a player has God-given ability -- great physical tools, he can run, he’s fast, he can change direction – and takes those great abilities and adds unbelievable work ethic, you’ve got a great player ... What makes him special is what makes him unique – not only the ability he has, but the inner drive he has.”